it's the beat my heart skips when i'm with you
by spideyscoming
Summary: She thought she got over him, but once you dance with Percy Jackson—which happened to be a complete accident—it becomes pretty hard to get over him.


Annabeth is not one to try and steal someone's boyfriend. If she liked someone who was in a relationship with someone else, she would force herself to stop liking them and that would be it. End of story. Only, except for some reason, she could _not_ get over Percy Jackson.

She honestly had no idea who Percy's girlfriend was; she had seen her around, but she didn't know her name nor her character, so she couldn't hate her or dislike her. She couldn't deny they were kind of cute. However, she also couldn't deny that she had pictured herself holding Percy Jackson's hand as they walked all over campus or being able to speak to him aside from just small talk about the assignment she knows he just finished last night. The amount of time she spends daydreaming about Percy is ridiculous; thankfully, it hasn't gotten to the point where she zones out in class and her grades begin to slip.

Annabeth knows that Percy has been in a committed relationship for a few months now (or maybe longer, she doesn't really know if she's being honest), so at some point in her life, she has tried talking herself out of liking him. She thought she got over him, but once you dance with Percy Jackson—which happened to be a complete accident—it becomes pretty hard to get over him.

* * *

Annabeth didn't like to party much. She's the student who stays in her dorm all day after class ends or after grabbing something to eat; typically, she would rather watch a movie or read a novel or study for her general chemistry class. In fact, as far as she knew, most of the students at Olympian Parthenon University didn't party much.

However, Annabeth was currently going through her closet, hoping to find a decent looking dress to wear to Will Solace's twentieth birthday party. His boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, was throwing the whole thing, according to her friend, Piper. Granted, the club where the party was at was only a few minutes away from her dorm, so she wasn't necessarily worried about showing up super late. She was only worried about wearing something atrocious because she had a gut feeling that Piper would make her go back and change, and Annabeth didn't feel like making two trips.

Finally, Annabeth settled on a dress she wore to a wedding a few months ago. Piper helped her pick the dress, she recalled, and as she stared at it, she came to the agreement that Piper was a bit of a fashion genius. The dress was sleeveless with a sweetheart neckline and ended a few inches above her knees; it had rhinestones around her waistline and was a nice champagne color. She did a twirl in front of her mirror after putting on the dress, her silver heels, and some light makeup. She left her hair in its curly state and after giving herself a once over, she decided she personally felt amazing.

By the time she arrived at the club, the music was in full swing. It took her a while to find her friends with all the people there; it also didn't help that there was a smoke machine and crazy lights, which made it harder for her to see.

"I haven't seen you clean up this nicely since the last time you wore this dress," Piper commented when Annabeth approached her.

Her comment made Annabeth roll her eyes, but she had a small smile playing at her lips. "Hi, to you, too, Pipes."

"Let me take you to Will and after you've said hi and wished him a happy birthday, we can talk more about how hot you look tonight."

* * *

There was no other couple she adored more than Will and Nico. From the moment she wished Will a "Happy birthday!" till she left him to go find Piper, Nico had not taken his eyes off of him and it almost made Annabeth want to gush over how cute they were, but she didn't want Nico to get red and look embarrassed while Will teased him.

She gave Will a fifty dollar Starbucks gift card (there have been days where she and Will have stayed up for two days straight and they only made it through because of coffee) and some blue pajamas with yellow ducks on them just because she loved the idea of giving someone pajamas.

When she finally left Will, she could not find Piper. She walked around for a few minutes thinking she was probably nearby, but when she felt her feet beginning to ache, she decided to take a seat and search for her in a bit.

Annabeth sat down at the nearest table on her own and scrolled through her social media on her phone. She put her phone down after she came to the realization that people are probably thinking she has only one friend (or none at all since she was sitting alone) or just isn't having fun, and she didn't want Will to think she wasn't having fun.

The music they were playing wasn't bad. Annabeth had figured they would only play EDM, but surprisingly, they were playing songs from different genres. She found herself humming to several songs and even moving her shoulders as her way of "dancing". She only wished Piper was there with her, so Piper would suggest they go dance and have fun, and Annabeth would find herself giving in like she always did.

"I'm so used to seeing you in a white lab coat and wearing goggles and gloves that when I spotted your blond curls, I figured it's probably another girl with similar hair, but boy, am I wrong."

Annabeth turned around and saw the last person she expected to see at Will's party. " _Percy_? Wow, fancy seeing you here."

Annabeth couldn't stop her heart from somersaulting nor could she stop herself from giving Percy Jackson a quick onceover. If she thought he looked great in just a tee shirt and jeans, then he looked even better in a royal blue button down tucked into some black slacks. She could feel herself getting flushed.

 _No man should be allowed to look_ this _good_ , she thought.

Percy slid into the seat across from her and gave her a smile she wouldn't forget. "Yeah, well, Nico's my cousin and I sort of set him up with Will, which automatically gets me invited to whatever event they're hosting or whatever event they're invited to."

"Wow, so you're the one who's responsible for Will's happiness? I'm impressed," she teased.

Percy rolled his eyes, but his smile was still present. "Anyway, I didn't think parties were your thing, Chase. You seem like the type to spend the night at the library, working on the paper that's not due for the next three weeks."

"Are you stalking me?"

"It's what I'm majoring in."

"I hope your girlfriend knows she's dating a creep then."

Percy laughed, and Annabeth decided that watching Percy Jackson laugh was now one of her favorite sights in the world. "Well, luckily, she's not here, so she didn't hear you make that comment about the best boyfriend in the world."

Annabeth decided to pretend like she didn't hear that last part. "Why didn't you bring her?"

She saw Percy tense up a bit and immediately regretted asking the question. "You don't have to answer that! Sorry, I just got curious and—"

"No, no, it's fine! It's just, um," Percy hesitated on his answer, "she's not exactly okay with Will and Nico's relationship. She's not okay with gays, basically."

Annabeth resisted the urge to make a rude comment about his girlfriend. "That sucks for her. She's missing out on two great people and a great party."

Percy gave her a small smile. "She sure is."

* * *

Annabeth doesn't remember how she ended up wrapped up in Percy's arms; it might've been when she and Piper decided to go dance to Ke$ha, and she invited Percy to come along. It might've also been the fact that Piper had convinced her to "let loose" earlier and have a drink with her, which slowly turned into two drinks. Then three. Then four…

All she remembers is dancing right next to Piper, and when she turned around, Piper was replaced with Percy. At first, it was a bit awkward because she kept thinking about how he had a girlfriend; suddenly, it was as if she got a boost of confidence and she heard herself telling him to show her his "best dance moves".

All Annabeth knows is she doesn't mind being wrapped up in Percy Jackson's arms and then being spun out then back in. She knew they probably weren't the best dancers, but she did know she had never had this much fun before.

"I have never loved Beyoncé as much as I do now!" Percy shouted over the blaring music as the song changed to another Beyoncé song.

Annabeth couldn't agree more.

* * *

Walking into class the next day was awkward for Annabeth. All she thought about all night long was Percy and his eyes and his arms and his smile and dancing with him. She couldn't help but smile whenever she thought back to the previous night and occasionally let herself wonder what it would be like to be _with_ him.

The smile fell off her face, however, when she walked into her general chemistry class and saw that Percy was not in his usual seat (which happened to be right in front of hers). It bummed her out a bit, but she tried to acting like she was totally okay with Percy Jackson not being in her class.

Annabeth rapidly took notes as her professor began spouting off information after information; it almost gave her a headache. Almost. This class was her favorite class, however, she didn't have to take this class as it wasn't a required course for her major (architecture), but she needed an elective, so she decided to do something Annabeth-like and take a general chemistry class because why not.

As she began setting up her RICE table on her current chemistry problem, she heard someone walk in (a tad bit late, she might add) and scramble to the seat right in front of hers.

"Hey, did I miss much?"

Leave it to Percy Jackson to make her forget what she was doing with her RICE table. "Not much, just an entire lesson on equilibrium and Le Châtelier's Principle, but hey, it's not like it was important or anything."

Percy dropped his head to his hands. "I should've not stayed out all night dancing; I woke up this morning and my legs were killing me. Do you think Professor Brunner will teach me whatever I missed?"

Annabeth gave him a sly smile. "As much as he likes you, I don't think he will. Especially since you missed the entire lesson just because you were sore."

Annabeth watched as Percy's green eyes darted across the room, looking desperately for help. She understood his pain; she once missed her general chemistry class because she had the flu, and when she returned to class, she felt like dropping out. Missing a day in Mr. Brunner's class was like missing a semester. She was almost positive she was not going to pass his class, but luckily, she was tutored by some of her friends, and she caught on pretty quickly to what was going on.

"I know this a lot to ask from you, Annabeth, but do you think you could teach me the lesson whenever you have time? I'll pay you! I'll clean your room, which is saying a lot since even I don't clean my dorm room, so I don't know how that'll work out but—"

"I'll teach you," she tried to say nonchalantly, "but only if you promise to take me to the aquarium where you intern at since I heard you get in for free and you can bring a plus one."

Percy looked like he had just received a blessing. "People would ask me to pay them in coffee, but you just want to go to the aquarium? I am so blessed."

Annabeth laughed. "I don't mind being paid in coffee, but I just haven't gone to the aquarium here, and it's been on my 'to-do' list for a while now. I'm taking advantage of you, Mr. Jackson."

"Ooh, Annabeth Chase has a kinky side. Do you like to—"

She lightly smacked his arm before he could even finish asking his perverted question.

* * *

"So guess what Nico told me?"

Annabeth didn't look up from her textbook. "Hmm?"

She heard Will take a sip from his drink as she tried to make sense of the words that were floating around on the page. Something about how if K 1 then it favors the product and if K 1 then it favors the reactant, but it depends on three things which happened to be—

"Apparently, Percy and Nancy aren't together anymore," Will stated casually as he worked on his organic chemistry assignment.

Suddenly, Annabeth no longer cared what three things affected the K of the equilibrium. "Really? I find that hard to believe. They're probably on a break or something. People break up and get back together all the time."

"Nope, Nancy deleted all their pictures together on Instagram and she stopped following him, too."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that doesn't mean anything, Will."

"Nico also said that Percy hasn't stopped talking about you ever since you guys danced to that one Beyoncé song. Remind me, what was it called again?"

She dropped her head onto her textbook. Will was just making fun of her now; he knew what song it was they danced to. She hasn't gotten that song out of her head ever since his birthday party almost a month ago. " _Crazy in Love_ ," she mumbled.

She heard Will snap his fingers as if he now remembered when she mentioned the song. "That's the one! Apparently, it has been his ringtone ever since my birthday and he sings it in the shower and he's always listening to it and—"

"Okay, I think I get it now, Will. Thank you for sharing your theory on how Percy Jackson is now apparently into me."

"I'm just telling you what I know."

* * *

As much as Annabeth loved learning and going to class, she loved sleeping in a bit more. She didn't have any classes today, any chemistry labs that were going to take all day, so she felt like doing something productive: catching up on her sleep. She could hear Piper swiftly moving around their dorm and more than likely getting ready for her afternoon class.

She was so close to knocking out completely until someone started knocking on their door.

"Piper," she mumbled, "Piper, get the door."

"Could you get the door for me, sweaty? I'm looking for a pair of shoes that I wore back in March!"

Annabeth wanted to cry. She was so close, _so close_ to getting a full day of sleep without any interruptions. "Sure, it's not like I wanted to sleep in all day or anything," she replied groggily.

She forced herself to get out of her bed, which wasn't all that comfortable, and made her way over to the door.

She was sure she looked like a mess; she hadn't brushed her teeth, she didn't have to look into a mirror to know that her hair looked like a rat's nest, and her makeup from last night was probably smudged.

Her plan was to open the door, tell whoever was at the door that Piper would be out in a bit, and head back to bed.

"Piper's on her way. She's just looking for some shoes—oh, shit."

Annabeth quickly slammed the door. She could feel her heart beating rapidly.

 _Percy Jackson is standing outside my dorm room while I look like I have not showered in thirty years, holy fuck,_ she thought.

"Annabeth? Is this a bad time?" Percy's muffled voice came through the door.

"Why, yes, Percy. This is an incredibly bad time. Horrific. I look like absolute shit while you look like Adonis," she said under her breath.

"Annabeth Chase! What are you doing? Who's outside our dorm?" Piper asked as she made her way towards the door in the shoes she had not worn since March.

Annabeth pulled Piper away from the door. "Did you invite Percy Jackson to our dorm?"

Another knock came from behind the door. "Hey, Annabeth, if you're busy now, I can come back later."

Annabeth was glaring at Piper while Piper turned to the door and shouted, "She'll be out in a few minutes! She just has to finish getting ready!"

"Piper, what are you doing! I need to—"

"I'm doing you a favor, sweaty. You'll thank me later. Now, let's finish getting you ready. Go brush your teeth and wipe your face clean, Annie! I already have your outfit picked out, the curler is on, and so all we need to do is your make-up so hurry up!"

Annabeth sprinted to the restroom.

* * *

"So you didn't ask me to go catch a movie, dinner, and a walk by the river via Piper, I'm assuming?"

Annabeth could feel herself turn beet red. "Honestly, no. My plan for today was to just sleep and not wake up till tomorrow for my afternoon class. I had no idea this was even happening, but thank you for not leaving in the midst of it all. I would've been even more embarrassed."

She turned to stare at Percy as he laughed. He looked great as always; she did not know how it was scientifically possible for someone to pull off jeans, a gray V-neck, and a black leather jacket that well.

"I think I would've been even more embarrassed if you had decided to back out last minute," Percy said with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, I don't think I would've backed out on the guy that I can't stop thinking about," Annabeth admitted. She looked away from him after she realized what she had said and began to feel sick. She was waiting for some kind of negative reaction from Percy; she could picture him telling her that he only saw her as a friend or even worse, him telling her that he doesn't like her and they should never speak to each other again.

Percy stayed silent for the remainder of their walk; however, when they reached the movie theaters, he said, "Would I be making you uncomfortable if I called this a date? Because if it makes you uncomfortable or something along those lines, I'm down to just call this a hang out or—"

Annabeth reached over and intertwined her fingers with his; she had no idea where this surge of confidence came from, but she was going to blame it on her overly happy heart. "I'm okay with this being a date as long as we can watch _The Secret Life of Pets_."

"Coincidentally," Percy began as he stared at her, a blush forming across his face, "it's the movie I want to see."

She grinned. "What a coincidence."

Percy's green eyes sparkled with amusement. "I know, right? It's like we're meant to be or something."

Annabeth buried her face into his arm, so he couldn't see the blush that overcame her face. She was going to have to take Piper up on her offer and thank her when she got back.

* * *

Annabeth had never been to Rome. As an architect, it has been her dream to visit every place on earth with marvelous architecture, so she could admire its brilliance and elegance. However, buildings were not the only structures she liked to admire.

"Wise Girl, I know you like to stare at me all the time, but please control yourself. There are children here. Although I am quite the view, we are here to see Rome, not me," Percy teased.

She rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but smile at his comment. "You're right. I'm _so_ sorry, your highness."

Percy flashed her a smile, and they continued walking down the streets of Rome. She was in such awe of the buildings surrounding her; she had seen them in pictures, but obviously, pictures do not do the buildings justice.

As they roamed the streets, Annabeth would sprout facts left and right about certain buildings, and Percy would occasionally give his input, but he let her do most of the talking. He always liked to see her eyes spark up whenever she spoke about architecture.

"Annabeth, as much as I would like to hear about how and why the Colosseum was built, I would really like to grab something to eat first," Percy interrupted her after walking for several hours.

Annabeth had to admit she was hungry, so they took off in search of a place to eat.

They ended up at restaurant that overlooked the Tiber River; the sun was setting, and while they both were a bit underdressed for this restaurant, Annabeth felt like everything was perfect. They ate carbonara, a pasta recommended to them by the waiter, and there was music playing softly.

"Can you believe it has been five years since we met?" Percy asked her as he looked at the river.

She followed his gaze and stared at the river, too. "Can you believe we've been together for three?"

The scene was truly beautiful. The sun reflected off the river and created a shimmery gleam on top of it. The sky was a lovely mix of rose gold and a soft orange. The reflection of the trees onto the river made it look like a painting.

She could feel Percy staring at her, but she couldn't pull her eyes away from the view. At least until she heard a familiar tune coming from the speakers in the restaurant.

Annabeth glanced over at Percy, and he was already staring at her with a gleam in his eyes. She could feel a smile growing on her lips as he stood up.

"It's a sign from Beyoncé, Wise Girl. We have to dance." Percy extended out his hand towards her with a grin on his face.

Annabeth took his hand and laughed as he spun her into his arms and back out. She tried not to dance as crazy as she did back at Will's party years ago, but Percy evidently wasn't having that.

People were giving them odd stares and annoyed looks, but at the moment, Annabeth didn't care.

While they danced to ' _Crazy in Love_ ', Annabeth couldn't help but be grateful that her heart never let go of Percy Jackson when he was with another girl; she was happy that she could not get over him. Otherwise, she wouldn't be dancing with a dorky marine biologist in a restaurant in the beautiful city of Rome.

* * *

 **Hi, everyone! I've been writing this one-shot for a few days already, and I finally got the confidence to post it. Feel free to leave reviews! I would love to know what you guys think! Thank you for reading!**

 **Follow my twitter: spideyscoming**

 **I do not own any of the characters, songs, artists, or films mentioned in this one-shot.**


End file.
